You made it! This is the last Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner post, and I’m sure your pimped-out feed is drawing new subscribers like flies. OK, getting subscribers isn’t that easy, but at least you’ve got a great feed. So far we’ve set up your feed in Feedburner, familiarized ourselves with the Feedburner site, learned how to analyze and troubleshootize your feed, optimized your feed with extra features, and publicized your feed to other web sites. All that’s left, is networkizing and monetizing your feed.

At this stage of the game, you may not be able to networkize or monetize your feed. Networks are groups of feeds that have something in common, maybe an activity or a geographical location. Feedburner takes all of their feeds and mashes them into one big feed. The network owner is responsible for managing the network and inviting new members to join. In general, you must be a member of an existing network to create a new network, and you must be a member of a network to monetize your feed (or you need eleventy billion subscribers). Regardless of your situation, we’re covering these two topics today.

Let’s start by going to the My Networks page. On this page, you’ll see a list of networks to which you belong, a link to create a network, and a link to find and join a network. If you’re a member of a network, you can click on a network title to go to that network’s page. On that page, you’ll find a list of members and a set of network tools:

• Member badge: Provides code so you can add a network identifier (aka a member badge) to your site.
• BuzzBoost: Allows you to add content from the network to your site using your specifications.
• Chicklets: Provides code so you can add a network chicklet to your site.
• FeedFlare: Promotes network advertising opportunities in your feed.

That’s about all you can do with a network. Go back to the My Feeds page, and click the Monetize tab. If Feedburner has approved your feed for the Feedburner Ad Network (FAN), you’ll have the option of reviewing and approving ad campaigns. You’ll also be able to configure the ads that appear in your feed or site. If you are approved to FAN, you’ll need to edit your account payment information on the My Account page.

So that’s it. That’s Feedburner. And if you’re a blogger, now you have no excuse for not using this great (and did I mention free?) service. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. Simply shoot me an e-mail at sarahjoaustin@gmail.com (or leave a comment on this post)

Other Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner Posts

• Getting Started
• Troubleshootizing & Analyzing
• Optimizing
• Publicizing

The paint is dry, the rims are in place, and I’m not getting any better at this car analogy, so let’s get to work. To review, so far we’ve set up your feed in Feedburner, familiarized ourselves with the web site, learned how to analyze and troubleshootize your feed, and picked out some sweet options to really make it shine. Today, we’re going to publicize your feed. To get started, log in to Feedburner, select a feed, and click on the Publicize tab.

In the left column of the Publicize page is a list of services you can use to publicize your feed. Just like the Optimize services, some are practical, and I recommend them; some are fun, and are optional; and some aren’t necessary unless you have special circumstances. For each of the services listed below, I’ll provide a description, a recommendation, and directions (if necessary). If you make changes to any service, be sure to click Activate or Save before going to another page.

• Headline Animator: Optional. Creates an animated headline that rotates through the titles of your recent posts. After you “design” the animation, Feedburner provides the snippet of code for you to add to any web site whose HTML you control.
• BuzzBoost: Optional. Republishes your feed in HTML according to your specifications so you can republish your feed to any web site whose HTML you control.
• SpringWidgets Skin: Optional. Merges your feed with a SpringWidgets widget, which you can then add to any web site whose HTML you control.
• E-mail Subscriptions: Recommended. Offers an e-mail subscription for readers who don’t use a feed reader (i.e. my sisters-in-law Kimberly and Jennifer—they don’t know that I know they read my blog).
  • Subscription Management: You can offer e-mail subscriptions with a form, a link, or both. Follow the directions on the page, and insert the provided code into an e-mail or web site.
  • Communication Preferences: You decide what you want the confirmation e-mail, which is sent to subscribers to confirm their subscription, to say and from what e-mail address it comes.
  • E-mail Branding: You design the e-mail that goes to subscribers. No sweat. It’s just fonts and colors.
  • Delivery Options: You decide when e-mails leave the station and arrive in your subscribers’ inboxes.
• Ping Shot: Recommended unless for some god-forsaken reason you don’t want people to read your blog. Notifies web services that you’ve updated your feed. Feedburner notifies some services automatically.
  • Check the boxes next to Google Blog Search Pinging Service and Ping-o-matic.
  • Randomly select as many of the other additional services as Feedburner allows.
• Feed Count: Not recommended if you have self-esteem issues. Creates an HTML graphic that announces to the world how many subscribers you do (or don’t) have.
• Chicklet Chooser: Optional. Creates a chicklet (yeah, sorta like the gum) for any given RSS reader and provides the HTML code for you to add to your site.
• Awareness API: Not recommended. Allows outside developers to display, promote, and analyze your feed traffic.
• Creative Commons: Optional. Allows you to specify the Creative Commons license for your site and feed and provides the HTML code for you to add to your site.
• Password Protected: Not recommended unless you’re a CIA agent. Requires readers to type in a user name and password before being allowed access to the feed.
• NoIndex: Not recommended unless there’s a reason you’re blogging and don’t want anyone to read your profound thoughts. Requests that search engines do not index your feed.

There you have it: all the services Feedburner offers for you to publicize your feed. You’ve probably noticed that many of them involve adding snippets of code to sites you’re responsible for. Let me advise you in this: Be selective about the widgets, badges, chicklets and other flare you add to your blog and feed. Just like all the flare (pins and buttons for those of you who haven’t seen Office Space) on the servers at Outback Steakhouse can cheapen their uniforms, HTML flare can cheapen your blog.

For tomorrow, go forth and publicize! That is your homework. Tomorrow we’ll networkize and monetize your feed.

Other Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner Posts

• Getting Started
• Troubleshootizing & Analyzing
• Optimize

You’ve stuck through the first two Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner posts, and now the fun begins! Today we’ll optimize your feed, which is like putting a fresh coat of paint and shiny rims on a pimped-out car. To get started, log in to Feedburner, choose a feed to work with, and click the Optimize tab.

In the left column on the Optimize page is a list of services from which to choose. Some are very practical, and I highly recommend them; some are fun, and you may or may not choose to use them; and some aren’t necessary at all unless your feed fits into a specific niche. For each of the services listed below, I’ll provide a brief description, recommendation, and directions (if necessary). If you make changes to any service, be sure to click Activate or Save before going to another page.

• BrowserFriendly: Recommended. Allows readers to easily preview and subscribe to your feed.
• SmartFeed: Recommended. Makes your feed easy to read no matter what program your readers are using.
• FeedFlare: Optional. Builds interactivity into your feed posts and into your site.
  • To add flare to your feed, select any of the options you want. Upon activation/saving, they’ll be automatically added to your feed.
  • To add flare to your site, select any of the options you want and add the snippet of code provided to your blog’s code. Simply choose a blogging interface from the drop-down menu and follow the directions provided.
• Link Splicer: Optional. Collects bookmarked links from your preferred bookmarking service and inserts them into your feed.
• Photo Splicer: Optional. Uses your preferred photo service and inserts your photos into your feed.
• Geotag Your Feed: Optional. Adds your location information to your feed code. This probably isn’t a good idea if you’ve recently escaped from prison and are on the run.
• Feed Image Burner: Optional for most of us, but recommended if you have a cool logo. Adds an image to your feed and helps it stand out among other posts in a feed reader.
• Title/Description Burner: Not recommended if you’re using Blogger or WordPress. Allows you to change your feed title and description from Feedburner rather than from your blogging interface.
• Convert Format Burner: Not recommended if you’re using SmartFeed.
• Content-Type Burner: Not necessary for most bloggers.
• Summary Burner: Optional. Allows you to only burn the first few sentences of your posts. If you tend to draw people into your posts with the first few sentences of your post, using the Summary Burner could possibly drive more people to your site.
• Event Feed: Not recommended unless your feed draws content from an event or calendar feed such as Google Calendar.
• Tickerize: Not recommended unless you’re publishing a financial feed or podcast.
• Amazon ID Burner: Optional. Automatically adds your Amazon.com Associates ID to any Amazon.com link in your posts. Especially useful if you write a lot of music/movie/TV/book reviews and want to generate additional revenue.

So there it is, the full gamut of optimization options. For tomorrow, implement the recommended services and begin playing with the optional services. Write a test post or two to see what you like and what you don’t, and tomorrow we’ll take your feed out for a spin and start publicizing.

Other Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner Posts

• Getting Started
• Troubleshootizing & Analyzing

Sweet! You’ve returned to further pimp out your RSS feed! Last week, we set up the feed and familiarized ourselves with the Feedburner interface, and today we’ll start analyzing and troubleshootizing your feed. For today’s post, your feed needs to be working. Is it?

Troubleshootize
If your feed is not working or if you encounter problems in the future, check out the Troubleshootize tab, which offers suggestions for common feed problems. This list most addresses issues for existing feeds, so if you’re having problems with your feed’s initial set up, double-check your settings, and test the feed until it works.

In addition to the list of problems and solutions offered on the main Troubleshootize page, Feedburner’s Feed Medic in the left column will generate a report of problems with your feed. You can use this report to identify why your feed isn’t working. As a last resort, you may resync your feed by clicking Resync Now, which clears your feed’s cache and starts syncing from scratch.

Analyze
Once you get your feed working, click on the Analyze tab. By default, you’ll always land on this page, which is also known as the Stats Dashboard. Right now, you’ll probably get a message that says, “Your feed is so new, we’re still playing with the bubble wrap.” If you get this message, click Some Stats Reflecting the Last 24 Hours.

On the left, you’ll see a menu of options for analyzing your feed: Feed Stats, Site Stats, Headline Animator Stats, and Ad Stats. Site Stats (use Google Analytics instead) and Headline Animator Stats (we’ll get to the Headline Animator in the next post) must be activated for you to use them. Ad Stats require that you activate ads for your feed (we’ll get to this on Monetize day).

So Feed Stats is the only menu option that is of any use to us. With Feed Stats, you can

• See what readers your subscribers are using
• Track how your number of subscriptions ebbs and flows
• Look at live feed hits
• Identify uncommon uses of your feed (i.e. Facebook Notes)

That’s it for today. Knowing how to analyze and troubleshootize your feed are important steps in the pimping-out process. Tomorrow, we’ll give your feed a fresh coat of paint by optimizing it.

Bonus Material: Importing Your Blog to Facebook Notes
Follow these instructions to import your blog posts as Facebook Notes.

• Log in to Facebook, and go to your Notes page.
• In the right column, under Notes Settings, click Edit Import Settings.
• On the Import An External Blog page, type (or paste) your Feedburner feed URL into the Web URL box.
• Check the box under the Web URL box.
• Click Start Importing.
• On the Confirm Import page, double-check the preview. If it’s A-OK, click Confirm Import.
• Go to your Profile, find the Notes widget, and read the titles of your recent blog posts!

Other Blogger’s Guide to Feedburner Posts

• Getting Started